It´s good to be king

I found this terrible Ex-Pat bar in Buenos Aires that was showing the basketball game through an barely watchable feed from the NBAs website. Finding the basketball games down in Argentina turns out to be a challenging issue. It’s not that the technology doesn’t exist to transmit the game to the Southern Hemisphere. There are satellite dishes and everything. But there’s some licensing issue with the NBA or DirectTV or someone. And it’s illegal to show the games in restaurants or bars.

The problem with Ex-Pat bars is that they’re full of Ex-Pats. Sometimes you meet some interesting Ex-Pats, but they’re still Ex-Pats after all. I find most Ex-Pats fall into two categories. First there are the kinds that just want to party and explore the world with their other Ex-Pat friends. And then there’s the kind that are bitter and jaded about life back home and have found a convenient place to run too. Either way they got it figured out. I’m still looking for that 3rd place.

But the thing that annoyed me most about this bar was the food. The owner told me he decided to open a bar because he missed the pub atmosphere. I take it he went to a lot of bars back in Key West. But I don’t think he ever ran one, and certainly never ran a kitchen. It was all quite terrible. And this was surprising because whenever I asked one of the regulars what was good they all said the same thing “well everything is pretty good here”. I that just meant they had chicken wings. And it was kinda expensive for Argentina. However, they did have free beer during their 4 happy hours a day. And that was quite excellent, so they had that going for them.

The Cavs were playing the Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I haven’t watched too many American sporting events since I’ve been down here, I think the last one was the Superbowl, and I caught a random Indians game on ESPN. But I wanted to see this game, watching LeBron James play is just fun.

I’ve been a Cleveland sports fan as long as I can remember. More the Browns and the Indians than the Cavs. But when you’re a Cleveland sports fan, you’re just a Cleveland sports fan. And there’s something unique about being a Cleveland sports fan that only other Cleveland sports fans can appreciate.

Cleveland is Mudville. Actually Cleveland is worse than Mudville. Because Cleveland has this way of coming oh so very close and making you believe that something magical is going to happen before crushing your heart into tiny little pieces. Cleveland is the city where the John Elway’s and Michael Jordan’s make their legends, not because of your heros, but inspite of them. Cleveland is the city where the Ernest Byner’s and Jose Mesa’s of the world leave you in stunned silent disbelief as your heart sinks to the bottom of your being.

Generally speaking, being a sports fan is fantastic. For very little actual investment you can enjoy great emotional highs when your team wins. Of course being a real sports fan means the flip side of that equation is true as well, when you’re team loses in heart-breaking fashion your heart is broken. And sports give us a socially acceptable manner in which to vent our ancestral cavemen instincts. If it wasn’t for sports we’d all walk around hitting each other with sticks.

But watching LeBron James is just fun. He’s good. He’s the kind of good that comes along once in a generation. He’s the kind of good that’s lived up to every ridiculous expectation that was piled upon him and left his critics searching for fodder. He’s the kind of good that you know is just going to be special and makes all of those comparisons to Jordan seem that much more likely.

And he’s a local boy, from Akron. And Akron is pretty much part of Cleveland, except Cleveland doesn’t want it. But LeBron is great as he’s been proving and he’s playing in Cleveland, and that has left many Cleveland Sports fans befuddled and confused.

Good things like this don’t happen to Cleveland. God hates Cleveland. The only time good things happen to Cleveland are right before some incredibly ironic twist of fate turns against us and dashes our elevated hopes. So I like all Cleveland sports fans is left pondering what cruel destiny awaits us regarding our new found savior. I won’t mention what I’ve come up with because they are all too terrible to put in writing.

I lived in Seattle for the last 7 years. But I never found myself that interested in Seattle sports. I think mainly because Seattle sports fans aren’t like Cleveland sports fans. Cleveland sports fans are like battered spouses who can’t leave their abusive partners. They keep going back expecting things to change, which they never do, but they just can’t bring themselves to leave.

That loveable loser mentality has a tendency to burrow its way into the personality of every Cleveland Sports fan. You just kinda sit and wait for the next shoe to drop. Even when things are good you can’t really enjoy them because you’re waiting for providence to work it’s magic.

But I’m starting to believe there is something to be said for self-fulfilling prophecies. When you believe the worst will happen, it often does. When you look for the worst in people, you find it. I’m not really sure what that has to do with LeBron James or Cleveland, but it’s far too easy to find yourself mopping around waiting for the inevitable. And when you do that not only do you forget to define your own destiny, you forget to savor the moment of joy you’ve been hoping and waiting for.

So for the time being I’m just going to try to enjoy every soaring dunk and timely jump shot and forget abut the Pistons or free-agency or bolts of lightening from the sky. Yes some things are easier said than done, but you get so much more joy out of doing than saying.